Contour scanning device



Dec, 18, 1962 Filed Jan. ll, 1961 FIGJ R. N. SKALWOLD ETAL CONTOUR SCANNING DEVICE 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVEN 0 ROB 'RT N. LWS RS AND HOMA 6. BU KE BY ma 7K5/ Z1 AITDBLLEXS Dec. 18, 1962 R.- N. sKALwoLD ETAL coNTouR scANNING DEVICE 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Jan. 1l, 1961 dfb' www m OOR Twu E MLB @4N V R NKG. O mm .m TM n am MT D RMN Dec. 18, 1962 R. N. sKALwoLD ETAL 3,068,581

CONTOUR SCANNING DEVICE Filed Jan. l1, 1961 3 Sheets-Sheel'l 3 INVENTORS ROBERT N. SKALWOLD uw THOMAS G. BURKE Rum 3,068,531 CNTUR SCANNNG DEVECE Robert N. Skalwold and Thomas G. Burke, Rome, NY.,

assignors to the United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Air Force Filed Jan. 11, wel, Ser. No. SAM@ (Granted under Title 35, `U=S. Code (1952), sec. 266) The invention described herein may be manufactured and used by or for the United States Government for governmental purposes without payment to us of any royalty thereon.

The present invention forms a continuation-in-part of our application Serial No. 676,447, filed August 5, 1957, now abandoned, and relates generally to devices for use in measuring curved surfaces and more particularly to an improved instrument for locating and detecting inaccuracies or deviations in curved surfaces of reflector type antermas.

Reflector type antennas are in common use for short wave reception and transmission and in communications, radar and other locating or `spotting systems. Any inaccuracy or devia-tion in the curved surface of the reflector type antenna results in scattering of the radio beam which is reflected by the irregular portion of the curved surface and, hence, causes deterioration in beam characteristics such as increased side lobes and radiated :beam distortion, or a false indica-tion of the direction of propagation or reception may result. It is desirable, therefore, to check the accuracy of the surface of a reflector type antenna before it is installed and at other times when it is suspected that there has been some deviation or inaccuracy in the surface. lt is also necessary to -measurethe dis-tortion of the surface in design and research for correlation with observed radiation patterns.

One object of the present invention is to provide a device which will directly and simply indicate to the operator the location and magnitude of the defect inthe curved surface. To this end, one feature of this invention resides in a scanning device having a member rota-table about a fixed pivot for scanning a curved surface and means carried by the device and the member for indicating irregularities in a curved surface. The indicatinU means includes a wire and a scanning head which is passed over a curved surface and the change in length of path from the focus or center of the curved surface can be measured or indicated and recorded by measuring movement of one end of the `Wire while the other end remains fixed. The scanning head maires this possible due to the way in which it 'carries the wire over two grooved wheels to be geometrically equivalent to a point on the surface.

As illustrated, this scanning head is incorporated in a device provided with a substantially horizontal rotatable boom which is adjustable and which is provided with a rider which holds an essentially vertical sliding column,

with the scanning head mounted at the bottom. Means is provided for indicating or detecting inaccuracies or deviations in the curved surface.

With the above and other objects in view, the invention will now be described with particular reference to the accompanying drawings which illustrate a preferred embodiment thereof, and in which:

FlGURE l is a schematic view in side elevation of a preferred embodiment of 4the present invention;

FIGURE 2 is an isometric view of a portion of the column on which the scanninf1 head is carried; and

FEGURES 3, 4, 5 and 6 illustrate diiferent contours on which the present device may be used.

The construction shown in FGURE l i-s adapted for use both to indicate inaccuracies, deviations or irregulariarent incassi l me ties in the curved surface as it is being scanned and also to record both the magnitude and the location of said inaccuracies, deviations or irregularities. The present device comprises a support l0 for an antenna 12 having a curved surface which is to be checked for deviations. The support 1d comprises a platform 1d having thereon a plurality of adjustable supporting members 16 which may be of any conventional type but which are illustrated herein as being in the form of screw jacks. The scanning mechanism i8 is supported on a substantially horizontal boom 2t) which is fixed to and rotatable with a substantially vertical column 22. The column 22 is rotatably mounted in a supporting frame 24 mounted between vertical posts 26.

The vertical posts 26 may be in the form of channel beams into which the ends of :the supporting frame 24 are positioned and in which the supporting frame 24 may be guided for vertical movement, if desired. Under ordinary circumstances, however, it is not necessary to vary the vertical position of the frame 24.

The support lil may assume various forms and ift is evident that suitable pads or properly shaped members 28 can `be placed on the upper end portion of each of the adjustable supporting members 16. These pads 2d may engage only a limited area of the reliector 12 or, if the weight of the reflector i2 is great, the contacting surface of the members 28 may be sufliciently great to prevent denection or distortion of said reflector.

The scanning mechanism d8 is moved in a predetermined manner by means of i-ts column 30 which may be optionally provided with a stiening structure to form a truss which prevents flexing or bending of the column Sti as it is moved outwardly. Referring to FIGURES 1 and 2, the vertical column 3i) is slidably supported in a bracket on the horizontally movable member or rider 36 carried by the boom 2G, and the column 39 is freely movable vertically in the rider 36 as the scanning operation progresses from the center of the antenna l2 toward the peripheral edge portion thereof or in a reverse direction of movement. lf desired, the column 3d may be raised and lowered as necessary by power operated means or the column 30 may be counterbalanced so that even slight variations in pressure against a scanning head 3S secured to the bottom or" column 30 may result in proper vertical adjustment of the column 3G. The movement of the rider 36 along the boom Ztl is related to the rotating movement of the boom 29 so that the rider 36 defines a spiral path as the scanning head 3S scans the surface of the antenna l2 for inaccuracies or deviations in its reflecting surface. Alternatively, the rider 36 may be made to dehne concentric circles. The movement of the rider 35 along the boom 2i? may be controlled in any suitable manner. As illustrated in FIGURE l, the rider 36 is clamped at atl to a chain 42 which in turn is driven by a motor i4 through suitable speed reduction connections d and sprockets d8. As shown in FIGURE l, the direction of movement of the rider 35 is controlled by limit switches Si), 52, which are engaged by the rider 36 as it approaches the limit of its movement in either direction. Limit switches 50, 52 may be arranged to cause either stoppage or reversal of motor 44 in a conventional manner. v

The boom '29 and supporting column 3G are rotate by a motor 5d which is operatively connected to the supporting column 2', by suitable gear connections S6. The motors ad and Sd may be interconnected and synchronized electrically so that movement of the rider 36 may be properly related to the rotation of the entire scanning device. By this means, the scanning of the reflector l?. will be along closely spaced spiral or concentric lines so that substantially every part of the reflector will be contacted by the scanning head 3d.

The present apparatus is designed primarily to locate deviations or irregularities in a curved surface so that these irregularities can be corrected or correlated with antenna performance. `It is evident, however, that the magnitude of the deviations or irregularities could be measured, if desired, by the use of suitable recording mechanism.

Under ordinary conditions of use, an antenna 12 having a curved surface is placed on the supports 28 withrthe center of rotation ofthe curved surface located coincident with the axis of the rotating column 22. Tous, when the column 22 is rotated, the scanning head 38 will describe a circular or spiral path on the curved surface and, if the surface along said paths Vis free from irregularities or defects, there will be no variation in the position of the scanning head 3S relatively to the rider 36 from the predetermined curvature.

The lower end portion of the column 22 is provided with a vertically adjustable reduced section S8 to the lower end of which is pivoted at 6l) an arm 62 carrying at its lower end a wire or cable receiving chuck 64. The chuck has extending therefrom a very line high strength wire. The wire 66 (FGURE 2) shown in a position vertically along the axis of rotation of the antenna passes around grooved pulleys 68 and 76 located in elements 96 iand 93, respectively. These elements are held in proper alignment by means of holes 74 and 76 which are precisely located to line up tangentially with the bottoms of the grooves in pulleys 68 and 7i?. The wire then connects to suitable motion sensing device such as the armature 78 of differential transformer Sti. The differential transformer S Iis mounted suitably to rider 36 as illustrated in FIGURES l `and 2. The tine wire is held under constant tension. One means of accomplishing this is to fasten a wire to the upper end of the armature 73,

over a pulley S2, which is also to be mounted on rider 36, and attaching the end of the wire to weight S4. ln this manner any change in length of the path from focus to scanning head to differential transformer is indicated by attaching the output of the differential transformer to a suitable recording device or indicating device S6 shown mounted on column 26 of FiGURE l.

The scanning head 58 comprises a beveled or rounded sled or foot portion 9i? 'of va size to avoid the dropping of the sled through any holes or perforations in the antenna and a pair of opstanding diametrically opposed ears lili) secured to the sled Sie. A block 94 is pivotally mounted about an axis through said ears l and provides a support for the pulley containing elements 96 and 98. These elements are pivotally mounted for separate rotation about f an axis orthogonal to that through ears 106.

The scanning head 3S is mounted on a parallel motion pantograph arrangement N2 hxed to the lower end of the column 3d. The device dZ comprises -a pair of arms or links N4 and 106 pivotally secured to a vertically ext tending link t at H0 land i12, respectively. The link 193 extends downwardly below the link .idd and at its lower end is provided with a beating .lid to which an extension 116 of a yoke portion 95 of block 9d of scanning head 38 is secured.

The scanning head 38 is mounted to link ldd in such a way that the shaft or extension 116 can rotate on its axis which is the laxis of pivotal elements 96 and 93. Since the scanning head sled 9d is connected with shaft 116 so that the sled is free to pivot about an axis through ears 13d, the scanning head 3S is thus capable of tilting in two directions permitting shoe 99 to conform to the surface being scanned.

The lower end of the column 3@ is provided, as shown in FIGURE 2, with a depending spring liti which is arrwged to actuate a switch 1.2i) and suitable controls which, when spring 113 drops off the edge of the surface l2, prevents the column 30 from moving up or down and which actuates solenoid 122 to lower its end of link H96 of parallel motion arrangement 62, thus preventing the scanning head 38 or link 16S from striking the edge of the surface l2 as the boom 2.9 rotates to a position where the surface would again be contacted. When spring 113 again contacts the surface 12, switch 12d releases solenoid 122 permitting normal column controls to operate.

As the scanning head and shoe pass over the surface 12 and large deviations or normal changes in the contour cause extension link 10S to rise or fall, suitable controls will raise or lower column 3@ in order to maintain link 1435 essentially horizontal. One convenient device for accomplishing this is a diderential transformer 124 which is secured to column 3i? in any suitable manner. The transformer 124 is provided with a movable armature Zd connected to the upper link ldd through an articulated connection-128. During normal operation the movement of link M6 up or down will cause armature 126 to move in or out of diiferential transformer 124, which, through suitable nulbalance amplifiers and a motor, Acauses column 39 to rise or descend at a rate proportional to the displacement of armature 126 in transformer E24, thus maintaining link 166 in an essentially horizontal position and permitting the scanning head to follow curved surface with vertical motions of several feet.

Referring now to FIGURES 3, 4, 5 and 6, it will be described how the device may be used to measure the contour of various types of curved surfaces by utilizing the geometric parameters thereof. The curved surface l2, shown schematically in FIGURE 3, represents a section of a spherical surface having a radius r. Thus, if the pivot is located at the center or focus f of the spherical surface 12, the distance from pivot 6d to the scanning head will not vary if the surface is free from defects. If, however, the surface 12 is imperfect, a variation in the measurement of r is to be reflected. One way of accomplishing this is by attaching the differential transformer S0 to the end of 5S such that its movable element 7S is secured at 66 and connecting the wire 66 between the differential transformer element 78 and ixedly to the scanning head 33. The weight 84 would be aixed to the end of the armature remote from `6d to avoid having the armature drop out of the transformer. With the output of the dilerential transformer 80 connected to the recording device 86, any deviation can be recorded.

The curved surface 12 shown in FIGURE 4 is an ellipsoid. The geometric parameters of the curve may readily be determined by placing the pivot 60 at one focal point f1 of the curve and by holding the Wire 66 at the other focal point f2 of the ellipse. One Way of accomplishing this is to fasten the differential transformer Sil at f2 and pivot 6!! at f1 and passing the wire 66 through the scanning head 38 as previously outlined. rIhe scanning head will be connected to rider 36 and column Si? and accessories in the same manner as for all other surface measurements. Since a-i-b=a'+b, aconstant, no change or deviation will be shown on the recorder if the surface is correct. lf, however, the surface is defective, variations in reading will occur.

The surface 12 shown in FIGURE 5 is flat. This surface can be scanned while horizontal and the variations of the scanning head 38 can be recorded. One method of recording these variations is by attaching wire 56 iixedly to the scanning head 38 and thence to the differential transformer 80. The output of the differential transformer 8d is connected to drive the recording device 86.

The curved surface 12 shown in FIGURE 6 represents Ya section of a paraboloid. if the pivot dal' is located at the center or focus f of the paraboloid, the distance a-lrb will ne constant as the device scans the surface, if the surface or" the paraboloid is free from defects. If, however, the surface l2 has imperfections or defects therein, the deviation plus the exact azimuth and radial location of the deviations can be ascertained by readings plotted on the recording devices d6. One method of measuring this deviation is by attaching a very line wire 66 to the f chuck 68 and passing the wire through the scanning head 38 and thence attaching wire 66 to the armature of differential transformer 80 and the weight 84 as previously described relative to FIGURES 1 and 2. In scanning all surfaces of revolution the axis of revolution is made coincident with the axis of rota-tion of 22.

The present invention has been described with particular reference to one embodiment thereof wherein inaccuracies or imperfections are indicated by the use of differential transformers, but it is evident that inaccuracies could also be indicated by other means if so desired. The inaccuracies may also be indicated by the use of suitable mechanical devices having indicating means thereon and which are suitably connected with Wire 66. Pulley 82 for example could be graduated or used to operate a potentiometer.

Since the basic device of this invention iscapable of use with various geometric conigurations, it should be noted that the adjustment of the basic device for various curvatures merely involves the changing or adding of brackets to and perhaps providing clearance slots for the wire in order to have the device conform to the parameters of the various shapes as, for example, are explained relative to FIGURES 3-6.

While the illustrated embodiment of the invention is designed to be particularly adapted for use in detecting irregularities and imperfections in a curved surface, the device may also be used to determine the contour of a curved surface by utilizing the geometric parameters of the contour. The device may be adjusted in accordance with the characteristics of the curved surface to determine whether or not the surface conforms to specified characteristics.

Although the invention has been described with particular reference to a preferred embodiment of the invention, it is to be understood that the invention is not to be limited thereto since the structure may be varied within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

We claim:

1. A device for measuring the contours of a surface having a pattern by utilizing the parameters thereof comprising a first member; a scanning head mounted for movement in contact with said surface; a pulley member; cable means xedly connected with said first member, extending to and through said scanning head, and connected to said pulley member for movement thereover; said members being located with respect to said surface such that the sum of the distances from each of said members to said surface represents a known quantity and straight lines drawn along the cable from each of said members to said scanning head and extending therebeyond intersect at a point on the surface to be scanned; means for taking up slack in said cable to accommodate changes in length between said members and said scanning head, andl means for indicating a change in length of said cable between said members.

2. A device as defined in claim 1 wherein said surface is elliptical and one of said members is located at one focal point of said surface and the other of said members is arranged so that the cable between it and the scanning head passes through the second focal point.

3. A device as defined in claim 1 wherein said surface is parabolic and one of said members is located at the focal point of said surface while the other of said memybers is arranged such that the cable between it and the said scanning head forms a line parallel to the longitudinal axis of said surface.

4. A device as defined in claim 1 including means for driving said scanning head in rotation and translation.

5. A device as defined in claim 1 including means for driving said scanning head in rotation and translation and means for vertically positioning said scanning head.

6. A device as defined in claim 5 including a support ing means connected with said scanning head and said means for driving, said supporting means comprising a column, and linkage elements forming a parallel motion pantograph xed to said column and said scanning head.

7. A device as defined in claim 6 including means for raising and lowering said column in response to the position of elements of said parallel motion pantograph.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,703,457 Breisch Mar. 8, 1955 2,841,009 Mayes Iuly 1, 1958 FOREIGN PATENTS 12,922 Great Britain 1908 311,315 Germany Mar. 12, 1919 

